Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Nov 2045
Elvis Hansson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jakob Claesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dolomiti Bellunesi told Philipp Rieder something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Hansson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A mark of 9.57 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dolomiti Bellunesi and Virtus Verona, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad25 Sep 2045
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dolomiti Bellunesi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dolomiti Bellunesi can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Jason Davis has come up in conversations Dolomiti Bellunesi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Artem Isaev from Genoa for $91.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad26 Jun 2045
Elvis Hansson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Virgil Xavi Simons did not need any: 8.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Buialskyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dolomiti Bellunesi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Bailey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Pro Vercelli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 May 2045
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jakob Claesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dolomiti Bellunesi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.22, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dolomiti Bellunesi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dolomiti Bellunesi and Lumezzane, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristoffer Hiljemark is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 108 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Virgil Xavi Simons was at the centre of it, Pergolettese were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Virgil Xavi Simons provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dolomiti Bellunesi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dolomiti Bellunesi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
18 combined actions and 7.11. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad12 Dec 2044
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Thibault Poirier had Dolomiti Bellunesi level again within 2 minutes, and Trento never got to play with a lead at all.
Jakob Claesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7.74, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Bailey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dolomiti Bellunesi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Bailey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dolomiti Bellunesi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thibault Poirier provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
8 goals in one match, Jason Davis on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Dolomiti Bellunesi and Lecco.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings24 Oct 2044
Jason Davis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Jakob Claesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dolomiti Bellunesi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Dolomiti Bellunesi scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marek Pikk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
490 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dolomiti Bellunesi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A 3‑2 win over Renate, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match1 Oct 2044
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Dolomiti Bellunesi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Biancafarina signs something — a contract at Dolomiti Bellunesi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Neal Lebegge’s negotiating for him
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dolomiti Bellunesi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Biancafarina and Dolomiti Bellunesi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dolomiti Bellunesi is running low.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sebastiano Ferrigno has just signed for Dolomiti Bellunesi, and for once the answer mattered.
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Nicola Bianchi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Jul 2044
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jakob Claesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Dolomiti Bellunesi have let the market know Sebastiano Ferrigno can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Bailey is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Tobias Albrecht has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dolomiti Bellunesi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and David Bailey decided nobody was going anywhere. Pro Vercelli had no time left to answer.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Dolomiti Bellunesi have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dolomiti Bellunesi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Bailey. 2‑1 against Pro Vercelli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Thibault Poirier has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dolomiti Bellunesi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dolomiti Bellunesi has to find a result from somewhere.
Roman Kovaliuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Apr 2044
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Borna Požega.
1‑4 to Vicenza, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Roman Kovaliuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Mar 2044
David Bailey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.